Christopher Kirby, Julia Dietze, Peta Sergeant. Directed by Timo Vuorensola.

Nazis on the moon! If that sentence doesn’t do anything for you, then you can stop reading now. If, on the other hand, ‘Nazis on the moon’ is exactly the sort of thing you go to the movies for, then you might be interested in ‘Iron Sky’. A Finnish-German-Australian production shot partly in Queensland, it’s an intentionally schlocky sci-fi comedy that wears its cheese-flavoured heart on its Schutzstaffel sleeve. The special effects are incredibly impressive when you consider what director Timo Vuorensola had to work with, and leading man Christopher Kirby brings buckets of charisma to his role. It’s a shame, then, that the story is too muddled and the ham-fisted attempts at political commentary are too weak for the film to really work, even on the ‘so-bad-it’s-good’ terms it sets for itself. It’s a textbook example of a film’s reach exceeding its grasp, but then, those are the most interesting failures, aren’t they?

2.5 stars.